#Ireland - The rise of repair cafes: ‘It’s not sustainable to keep buying new stuff’
A resurgent repair culture has a bottom-up energy, but change is also coming from the top, with the EU’s Right to Repair Directive
by Sylvia Thompson
Mon Jan 20 2025 - 05:00
"At repair cafes across the island of Ireland, volunteers fix small pieces of furniture, household electrical appliances and clothing at community venues for free. This movement, which started about 10 years ago – but stalled during the Covid-19 pandemic – is gathering pace again as a kickback against the perils of #overconsumption and as a response to #environmental and cost-of-living crises.
"Tomorrow afternoon, in an industrial unit in #Dublin12, a repair cafe will take place, a community event in which a group of volunteer fixers will repair everything from broken toasters, kettles, coffee machines and air fryers to garments needing new zips or buttons.
"The #DublinMakerRepairCafe in Unit 2B, Motor City, Kylemore Road, #Dublin 12, is one of a number of repair cafe gatherings held throughout the island. Volunteer #fixers also show up for repair events organised in "#CommunityCentres, #libraries and third-level colleges.
" 'I’d do a repair cafe every weekend if I had enough volunteers. I can’t meet the demand from libraries, county councils and community groups,' says Jeffrey Roe, a software and hardware engineer who also runs Tog Hackerspace, which hosts the D12 repair cafes four times a year.
"He says there are three types of people who turn up with broken items to be repaired for free at these community events.
" 'There are the environmentally conscious people who want to get things fixed rather than consume more valuable resources by purchasing new things,' says Roe. 'There are people who want things fixed for sentimental reasons – say a food mixer their mother used or a toy they played with that they want to give to their children. And then, there are the cost-conscious people who find the cost of getting something new too high.' "
#RepairCafes #RightToRepair #BuildingCommunity #ReduceReuseRepair #ReuseRepair
#RepairCafésIreland #SolarPunkSunday
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